


The Case of the Anonymous Benefactor

by Joylee



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, Gen, Teacher-Student Relationship, Third season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 20:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5469674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joylee/pseuds/Joylee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started as an innocent favor for Detective Bell.  Take it, said Holmes.  It will sharpen your skills at tracing money, he said.  She should have known it would turned into a matter of high finance, scandal among to the 1% and, of course, murder.  Now if she can just stay out of jail herself...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case of the Anonymous Benefactor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thenewradical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewradical/gifts).



> Set in early season 3, right after Joan convinces Kitty to start going to meetings.
> 
> Thanks for this prompt thenewradical. I hope you enjoy Kitty's little adventure as much as I enjoyed spending time in her head.

She was making tea when the doorbell rang. She had needed a break from the most recent puzzle Sherlock had set her. Clearly the locks were arranged alphabetically by the second letter in the manufacturers name to start. After that it was less clear. She thought it might be reverse hasp size, but she was not going to hunt up a caliper to measure them to be sure until after she had her elevenses. Which might just possibly include that last of Sherlock's favorite digestives to pay him back for this stupid exercise. 

And of course Sherlock could not be bothered to answer the door. Pulling it open rather harder than need be she was confronted by two men, whose general demeanor and suspicious looks proclaimed them, even to someone not being trained by Sherlock Holmes, to be police detectives. “Kitty Winter?”

“Yes?”

“We need you to come down to the station with us, Ms. Winter.” Identification was flashed her way. “We have some questions for you.”

“Sherlock!” She shouted over her shoulder.

In the end they went to the see Captain Gregson at the 11th precinct rather than the 12th that the detectives who turned up at the door worked out of. It took more than an hour to sort out the various turf issues of who got to question her. The detectives from the 12th might be in charge of whatever case they wanted to question her about, but between her working as a consultant for Captain Gregson, and Holmes's general upper class superiority, that got short shrift. Eventually they were graciously allowed to sit in on a conference that included both Gregson and Holmes as well.

The formalities out of the way they finally got down to what they wanted to know. “Ms. Winters did you meet with Jonathan Small yesterday?”

“Is that what this is about? Do they really think siccing some police officers on me is going to intimidate me?” She was more insulted than angry.

“They who?” The smaller one with the Irish flag on his lapel who had been introduced as Ryan asked.

“The Bouchers.” 

The two 'not Bell' detectives looked at each other. The Hispanic one, Esposito, asked, “The Bouchers? As in Preferred Oil? And the Americans For a Stable Society—Bouchers? How are they involved?”

“Small works for them.” She told them. “Did you not check into him at all?”

Ryan looked at his notes. “According to what we were told Small had a company called Agra Securities.”

Kitty noted the tense. “Whose only client is the Boucher Family Trust. Small and his company are their personal 'fixers'. Everything from arranging their family parties, to providing personal security and covering up any embarrassing circumstances that a member of the family might find themselves in.”

She let that sink in and added, “Mostly things like getting the younger members out of drunk driving charges and paying off discarded mistresses. Although one person I talked with said Small had gotten rather caught in the middle of a power struggle between the cousins who are vying for control of the company now that the older generation is getting on in years. Small is apparently loyal to Mrs. Clark, while the odds are Dennis Boucher will be controlling the family billions. He's currently CFO and pretty much in charge.”

“This is the lead you were following on that potential stalker case Det. Bell asked you to look into?” Holmes asked. “I must say I'm impressed. For you to run afoul of a henchman of someone as powerful as the Bouchers this early in your career is quite a coup.”

“You must be so proud,” commented Gregson to Holmes. Then he asked Kitty. “What's this about a potential stalker case from Bell?”

“Bell's aunt asked him to find out who was sending money to the granddaughter of a friend of hers. Since there wasn't any evidence that any crime was being committed, he didn't want to use police department resources, but his aunt was insistent. So he asked if I could take a look at it.” Kitty shrugged. “Holmes thought it would be good practice for me to try and follow a money trail on my own. And it would stop Bell's aunt from bothering him. I know what that's like. I've a great-auntie who minds everyone else's business, too.

“If it was a stalking case, it was certainly an odd one.” Kitty went on. “The granddaughter, Lashay Drake, received a notice when she turned eighteen that she had a trust fund. Someone had been depositing money in a trust for her benefit since the death of her father when she was six. Every quarter a cash deposit was made to the trust. $5000 per quarter every quarter until 2005 when it increased to $5500. Then it increased to $6000 in 2006 and $6500 in 2009 and $7000 in 2013.”

“Precisely the amount two people could give without incurring any gift tax or having to report it.” Holmes put in. “How interesting.”

Kitty frowned at him. “It took me two days to make that connection. And then only because there was a pamphlet about avoiding the gift tax in the waiting room of the office of the law firm who set up the trust. If he hadn't kept me waiting an hour I wouldn't have seen it and figured it out.”

“Did the lawyer say who set up the trust?” Ryan asked.

“No. But they were up front about it. Apparently it was set up by a former senior partner who had since died. When Ms. Drake first contacted them about it, they had checked their records. Apparently the former partner had unsavory connections and they were concerned that it might have been money laundering. But if it was they couldn't say. They had no records of setting up the trust except a notation of a cash payment for the service.”

“Was that normal?” Holmes asked. 

“No. The partner I spoke with seemed genuinely concerned about the lack. He said normally they would keep the files on a trust until well after all the funds were disbursed. He even let me interview the dead partner's secretary. She remembered the trust particularly because it was set up without her every knowing the name of the client. Very odd.”

“How did you get from there to Small?” Gregson asked.

She was rather proud of this bit. “I got hold of the in-house directory of the bank that managed the trust and checked the names against court records to see if I could find anyone who had applied for a restraining order in the hope of finding a sympathetic bank employee. Turned out the assistant manager had issues with her ex-husband.

“Not only was she sympathetic to Lashay wanting to find out about the trust, but she had actually been suspicious of the guy herself. Apparently making cash deposits raises all sorts of red flags with bankers unless there's a good reason for it. At any rate she had saved a copy of the security video from one of his deposits. I got the impression she was afraid Homeland Security was going to come asking questions about the guy. The video included a good picture of the car he arrived in. From there tracing him to Agra Securities was easy.”

“Where you visited him last night.” Esposito put in.

“Late afternoon.” Kitty corrected. “I got there just before five. I thought that way I could catch him alone.”

The two detectives exchanged knowing looks. “What happened next.”

“He was _very_ uncooperative.” Kitty frowned. “Claimed not to know what I was talking about. Then I showed him a picture of him making a deposit with a copy of the deposit slip. At that point he got belligerent. Demanded to know who I worked for. When I told him I was investigating the trust for Ms. Drake he got even nastier saying he didn't believe me. Accused me of working for the hacker group Everyone or George Soros. At one point he actually grabbed me and I had to fight him off.”

“And that's when he fell?” Ryan asked.

“Fell?” This was clearly worse than Kitty had thought. That earlier past tense became ominous. “No. I just broke his grip and ran. He chased me as far as the third floor landing before giving up.”

“And then?”

“I went about my business.” Kitty decided specific details at this point might be unwise. “I was going to run a couple of different lines of further investigation by Holmes to see what he thought, but he had his own case he was working on last night and... well it's best not to disturb him when he's doing his dump papers all over the floor thing.”

“Where were you between 5:00 and 9:00 last night Ms. Winters?” Esposito growled at her.

Really? They were going with good cop, bad cop? In front of Holmes and Captain Gregson? She sighed. So much for no details. “I left Agra Securities' offices at around 5:40. From there I went to a support group meeting. Then I picked up some groceries and got home around 7:45. I didn't leave again until you came this morning.” 

“Can you verify that, Mr. Holmes?”

“We're flatmates. Not lovers.” Holmes told him. “I did not hear her go out again after she came home which was sometime before 8:00 last night.”

But that meant nothing. She could think of three ways to get in and out of the brownstone without Holmes knowing it and he could probably come up with half a dozen more.

So her alibi was terrible. From the way the two not Bell detectives were eyeing her they knew it too. 

“Ms. Winters, Jonathan Small was found dead late last night. He had been bludgeoned to death and his office apparently ransacked after he died.” Ryan leaned forward. “You said you fought with him. Did it get out of hand? If you were defending yourself it would be better for you to tell us now.”

“No. I just broke loose and then ran.” Kitty kept her voice calm. “He was in good enough shape when I did to chase me down five flights of stairs.”

“But you don't seem surprised to learn that he's dead.” Pointed out Esposito.

“Your questions have been telegraphing a major crime since we started.” Kitty told him. “So, no, I'm not terribly surprised to hear that he's dead.”

“You could use some work on your interview technique.” Gregson agreed. “We all figured that out a while ago.”

Ryan bristled. “Our Captain thinks our technique is just fine.”

There followed some inter-precinct rivalry, which Gregson won on points. At least in Kitty's admittedly biased opinion. Holmes headed off any question of her arrest by pointing out all of the flaws in the not Bells case and finished up by suggesting, “I would recommend interviewing Mr. Small's employers. Clearly you need to determine what he was currently working on to see if it has any connection to his death.” 

The two detectives from the 12th departed looking glum. Clearly they were not happy about interrogating some of the richest and most influential people in the world.

“Don't you want to go with them to sit in on the interviews?” Kitty asked.

“I don't expect their interviews to yield anything. People like the Bouchers are exceptionally good at hiding their agendas.” Holmes ushered her out of the station

“You should know.” She commented.

At Holmes's expression, she added, “You didn't think I'd agree to work with you and move across an ocean to do it without checking your background? Your father may not be as wealthy as the Bouchers, but he makes their ability to manipulate look like draughts players against a chess master.”

“He does that.” Holmes allowed. “But back to your situation, it's a rather interesting little puzzle. And that's without taking into account that we best find out who killed Small before those two come back and decided to arrest you after all. Your incarceration would seriously interfere with your training. Have you any theories as to why Mr. Small was paying Ms. Drake?”

“I'm not sure he was.” Kitty told him hesitantly. “Paying her I mean, clearly, the money must have been coming from the Bouchers, or at least two of them. But you don't 'pay' a six year old and that's when the trust was set up. The timing rather suggests something to do with her father's death.”

“What did you find out regarding him?”

“He was killed in the 911 attacks. An investment banker, but not long with the firm so he didn't leave much of an estate.” Kitty sighed. “I need to look into him more thoroughly, don't I?”

“If for no other reason than to rule that out as a possibility.” Holmes agreed. “For the same reason I must ask, you weren't involved in Mr. Small death I take it?”

“Not by commission. I can't help but think my asking questions about Lashay's money must have had something to do with it.”

“While not impossible that it was a mere coincidence, I have to concur.” Holmes nodded. “Finding the link will tell us much.”

The link proved surprisingly easy to find.

“They might have mentioned in the beginning that Lashay's _other_ grandmother had worked as a maid for the Bouchers.” Kitty grumbled to Holmes and Watson that evening over tea in the brownstone kitchen. “I'd have started there.”

“Interviewing clients can be as much an art as a science.” Joan consoled her. “At least now you've got a motive for the payoffs.”

“I still don't think they were actual payoffs.” Kitty mused. “It wasn't like Lashay had any idea she might have a claim on the Bouchers. I think someone was easing a guilty conscience.”

“And given the absence of a Grandfather Drake, I wager you could pinpoint that 'someone' with a paternity test.” Holmes agreed. 

“I don't see that gets us anywhere as far as who killed Small though.” Joan said. “Despite the Bouchers conservative leanings and Americans For a Stable Society campaigning for conservative family values legislation, having an illegitimate child is hardly the sort of secret you kill someone to keep. Even if you are trying to get appointed CEO.”

“The ages aren't quite right for that.” Kitty pointed out. “Lashay's father was born in 1970. Dennis Boucher would have been barely fourteen.”

“Which leaves the two brothers and their father in the running for Ms. Drake's grandfather.” pointed out Holmes.

“Actually,” Kitty shuffled through her paperwork. “There was a third brother, the other candidate for CEO, Mrs. Clark's, father. He was a rather renown playboy, who died under mysterious circumstances.”

“Now that sounds promising.” Holmes said. “Perhaps we can get the not Bells to arrange an interview. Mrs. Clark sounds like she would be worth questioning.”

Captain Gregson was less enthusiastic. “You're welcome to try. But I read the interview they did with Dennis Boucher. Uncooperative hardly covers it. He was almost prepared to admit that Small existed, but beyond that, nada.

“They did manage to uncover that Dennis Boucher has a company apartment in the same building as Small's office. And he stayed there the night of the murder for the first time in several months.” Gregson added. “If it were my case, I'd be liking him on the strength of that alone.”

Mrs. Clark came to see them at Captain Gregson's office and brought her lawyer. Or rather as she pointed out. “The Boucher Family Trust's lawyer. Were I actually concerned about your questions, I'd have brought my own. But Dennis insisted.”

“We were under the impression that there was not a great deal of love lost between yourself and Dennis Boucher.” Holmes commented.

“I fail to see what that has to do with any investigation into...” The lawyer got out before Mrs. Clark interrupted.

“Charles, shut up. I agreed you could come so as to report back to the family, but I didn't agree you could say anything.” Turning to Holmes, she went on. “Dennis and I have rather differing views of how Preferred Oil should be managed. More specifically, I think we need to do a realistic assessment of just how to transition the company into renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. Dennis, on the other hand, thinks a business model created by our grandfather during the depression can be maintained indefinitely merely by applying the right political pressure. Dennis has the support of my uncles. Primarily because he has a penis. Since he regards me as a tree hugging shrew and I him as a misanthropic puritan, you are correct in concluding neither of us would be terribly disturbed were the other to absent themselves from the business. But one hardly wishes ones relatives locked up for murder.”

“It's certainly not a questions of _that_.” The lawyer harrumphed. And then immediately went quiet under Mrs. Clark's glare.

Sherlock nodded at Kitty. They had agreed since it was her case she should ask the questions. Unless it looked to Holmes like she was missing something. “We were wondering, Mrs. Clark, what you could tell us about your family's relationship with Lashay Drake?”

That got Mrs. Clark's attention. “Her grandmother was my grandmother's maid for awhile. How does this relate to Small's death?”

“I had been investigating the source of Ms. Drake's Trust funds.” Kitty tried to sound like she did this all the time. “I had traced them back to cash deposits made by Small. I confronted him about them the night he was killed. Given the juxtaposition of events we wondered if they were related.”

“I see.” Mrs. Clark considered. The lawyer looked unhappy, but apparently had decided to keep quiet for now. 

Picking her words carefully Mrs. Clark told them, “Small was making those deposits at my direction. My grandmother was very fond of her maid. Even after Ms. Drake left her employ, Nana helped her obtain scholarships for her son's education. Then when her granddaughter, Lashay, was orphaned so tragically Nana arranged for her education too. And set up the trust. It seemed a worthy cause so I contributed as well. We could gift her a larger sum with two people contributing you see. After my grandmother's death, my husband and I continued the quarterly gifts.”

“We thought it might have something to do with your father.” Kitty prodded. “He died rather mysteriously around the same time as the Trust was set up.”

Clearly this was not what Mrs. Clark was concerned about as she laughed and answered easily. “The only thing mysterious about my father's death was whether his liver gave out from the drugs, the booze or the STDs. My uncles are as puritan as Dennis. They couldn't have it said that a Boucher had died of 'riotous living'. So they tried to cover it up. That just caused more gossip and conspiracy theories instead.

“They even went so far as to insist on a DNA test to determine that I was actually his child, and entitled to inherit his share of the Trust.” She added. “I was his only child you see, despite four wives and uncounted mistresses. If I wasn't in the running his share would have passed to them. My mother was so insulted that she still won't speak to my uncles.”

Suddenly Kitty saw the answer. “The Boucher Family Trust was set up by your grandfather? May I ask how it was left?”

“One share to each of my grandfather's children.” Mrs. Clark said promptly. “Currently I have twenty-five percent. My uncles between them fifty, which they always vote as a block and each of my deceased aunt's children have twelve and half.”

“And the Trust controls Preferred Oil?” 

“It's a little more complicated than that. There are publicly traded non-voting shares and some voting minority shareholders, but what the family wants usually prevails.” Mrs. Clark smiled and picked up her belongings. “And you are a very clever girl. I doubt it has anything to do with Jonathan's death though. Dennis isn't stupid.”

After Mrs. Clark left, Gregson asked. “Okay. I see where you're going with the maid. You think Grandpa Boucher is your client's grandfather. But _does_ that have anything to do with Small's death?”

“I may have found a motive for Dennis Boucher to want Small dead. Sherlock, do you know a good solicitor? I need to ask some questions about that Trust.”

Holmes's lawyer (or rather his father's lawyer from what Kitty deduced from their rather brittle conversation) was cautious but intrigued. “The law has changed over the years. When did the settlor of the trust die?”

“1989.” Kitty supplied,

“In that event it would depend entirely on how the beneficiary clause is worded. If it names specific individuals only those people would be entitled to a share.” The lawyer said. “However if the trust says, for example, in equal shares to each of my children, then _any_ offspring would have a claim regardless of whether they were born in a marital relationship.

“The child would have to prove their relationship obviously. But these days with DNA testing it's not that difficult.” He cleared his throat. “If your client is looking for representation I would be most interested in looking into her case.”

“You should pass his name on to Ms. Drake.” Holmes told her as they left the office. “Any lawyer who my father is willing to employ must be both skilled and fearsome. And he'll be more afraid of my father than the Bouchers', so that they won't be able to buy him off.”

Kitty was increasingly glad that the senior Mr. Holmes was an ocean away. “Do you think, now that we have both motive and opportunity, we have a chance at getting a second run at Dennis Boucher?”

“Not without some actual evidence linking him to the crime scene.” Holmes said. “Captain Gregson is unflinching in his pursuit of justice, but even he is going to think twice about going up against someone as powerful as Mr. Boucher without proof. Let us take a look at the forensics and see what they have found.”

“Because with his primary fixer the victim, Boucher may not have had anyone to clean up after him.” Kitty finished.

“Exactly.”

Back at the brownstone, Joan offered to help by going over the autopsy report. Holmes made Kitty review the crime scene report before going over them himself.

Joan commented, “You know this head wound is the actual cause of death. But it would have taken him awhile to die. Whoever struck him probably did it at least a couple of hours before the time of death.

“And if they had gotten him medical attention he would almost certainly have survived.” She frowned disapprovingly.

“So we should be looking for someone who came to the office not long after I left.” Kitty considered. “Which makes my alibi even more suspect. And will complicate the prosecution if we do manage to find evidence that Dennis Boucher did it. He'll be able to claim it was an accident.”

“Particularly when you're dealing with lawyers as good as the Bouchers can hire.” Holmes agreed. “What does that suggest about what evidence we should be looking at?”

But Kitty was ahead of him. She pulled up the security records for the building. As well as Small's phone records. “Here it is. Small called Dennis Boucher's personal cell before I even got out of the building. And Boucher's key card was used to access the elevator about half an hour later from the main floor and again from Small's floor fifty minutes after that.”

“Looks like he went up and down between Small's office and the apartment a couple of times,” She considered. “Clean up or moving records?”

“Either way it would have likely left some traces in the apartment.” Holmes took out his phone. “Best get the not Bells on that before he has any more time to remove them.”

The next day they met the not Bells at the Preferred Oil apartment. “We were too late.” Det Esposito told them glumly.

Kitty looked rather pointedly at the boxes of files clearly visible through the open pantry door.

“Oh, we found plenty of records.” Det Ryan told her. “Along with lovely smears of blood on the bottom of both boxes. But Dennis Boucher left on a company jet this morning, which after reaching it's filed destination of Paris refueled and headed for Dubai.”

“No extradition treaty?” Kitty guessed.

“No.” Holmes supplied. “A rather precipitous departure. Particularly since our evidence could just as easily be interpreted as an accident or even self defense.”

“Based on what we've found so far in these records he was probably more worried about the information in them coming out.” Ryan looked smug. “Looks like pretty solid evidence of stock manipulation and bribery just to start. And that's without getting into a bunch of family scandals he had Small cover up. The District Attorney is going to a field day with this stuff.”

“Assuming we can get it to him.” His partner nodded at Charles, the Boucher Family Trust lawyer standing in the living room with two other men in expensive suits. “The Bouchers' lawyers descended in force. They're trying to keep us from taking the records. We're waiting for an assistant DA to show to duke it out with them, but frankly our guy is going to be fighting way above his weight class.”

“Should we call your father's lawyer?” Kitty asked. “He struck me as a heavyweight.”

“I'm not sure that would be in your client's best interest.” Holmes told her. “Not to mention the question of who would pay his fees.”

There was several minutes of everyone standing around looking uncomfortable before the elevator dinged.

But instead of the assistant DA, it was Mrs. Clark. Who looked furious. “What is the meaning of this?”

“We have a warrant to search the premises, Ma'am.” Esposito began. “Those boxes are evidence...”

“Not you.” Turning to the lawyers she demanded. “Which of you _idiots_ decided it would be a good idea for the CFO of Preferred Oil to flee the country to avoid arrest? For alleged _stock manipulation_! Do you have any idea what this is doing to our share prices?”

“We were acting in the best interests of the family.” One of the lawyers began.

“Stop. The best interests of the _family_? Just how is it in the best interest of _anyone_ to put our livelihood and the livelihood of the ten thousand people who work for us in danger? My uncles and Dennis preach constantly about the need for people to be responsible for their own actions, but the minute Dennis is faced with having to take responsibility for his own fuck ups he turns and runs like a frightened child!” She spat. “You're fired. The lot of you. Security will clear out your offices. And by God don't think you're going to get any severance packages.”

The lawyers departed with as much dignity as they could manage under the circumstances.

Visibly collecting herself, Mrs. Clark turned to the police. “Be assured, detectives, you will have the full cooperation of Preferred Oil and the Boucher Family Trust in your investigation. No matter how painful it is to see a member of my own family shown to have behaved so infamously, we are a publicly traded company and owe a duty of care to our shareholders, employees and the country as a whole.”

“Is that the speech you intend to give at the shareholders meeting after you're appointed the new CEO of Preferred Oil?” Holmes inquired.

“Probably not. It's a bit over dramatic.” The calm business woman returned. “I may have to go that over the top that the next meeting of the Trustees of the Boucher Family Trust though. I expect it will take that much shouting to convince my uncles that they are better off bowing to reality and accepting that your Ms. Drake is entitled to her share of the Trust.

“May I prevail upon you for an introduction to my cousin, Lashay?” Mrs. Clark asked Kitty. “She and I have much to discuss.”

“Should I be concerned that Mrs. Clark is agreeing to give Lashay her rightful inheritance because she figures Lashay will vote with her on her business agenda?” Kitty asked Holmes as they left the building. “It's not like she couldn't have told Lashay, or Lashay's father for that matter, that they were entitled to a share in a several thousand million dollar inheritance.”

“I imagine she told herself that as long as her uncles were in control she had little chance of actually getting Mr. Drake or his daughter their share. She did act as soon as she was in a powerful enough position to do so.” Holmes responded. “Be content that you not only unmasked a killer, but put your client in control of her rightful inheritance and toppled a robber baron in the process.”

Kitty grinned. “Put like that I'm bloody _brilliant_!

**Author's Note:**

> Any Sherlockian should have no difficulties identifying where I 'borrowed' the basis for this story from. With apologies and deep affection to Arthur Conan Doyle. And of course to Murray 'without whom'. Even if here it is 2015 and not 1895.


End file.
